Features

The 50th anniversary of hip-hop was officially marked on August 11 of this year, but celebrations of this milestone have been taking place all year. Among the countless events taking place in the city and around the world, in July, SVA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion held a DJ workshop and MC competition with DJ Scratch (EPMD, Beyoncé, Jay Z) at the College that was free and open to the public (watch some footage here).

Late last month, the latest poster in SVA’s long-running “subway series” was installed in New York City transit stations all over the five boroughs. (A retrospective exhibition of the poster series, “Underground Images: A History,” is currently on view in the SVA Chelsea Gallery.) In keeping with the year-long commemoration of hip-hop’s half-century, the fall 2023 poster features a photograph capturing a pivotal moment in hip-hop history, taken by artist and longtime SVA staff member Angel R. Ibañez (1974 Illustration).

The poster is based around a 1986 photograph of the early hip-hop group Whodini, perhaps best remembered for the 1984 hit single “The Freaks Come Out at Night.” Ibañez, currently assistant studio manager of SVA’s Digital Imaging Center, had attended a multi-day video shoot for the group, photographing the production and the various notables and developing the film in his home darkroom. 

What started as a mock concert music-video shoot for two Whodini songs (one was “Funky Beat,” the other Ibañez can’t recall) evolved into a five-day event attended by many of the celebrities and best-known hip-hop musicians of the day. 

Just a few of the stars on hand included actors Malcolm-Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show) and Taimak (The Last Dragon); members of hip-hop groups like Run-D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Full Force; R&B singer Bobby Brown; filmmaker Melvin Van Pebbles and choreographer Louis Johnson (The Wiz). Ibañez had inadvertently put himself at a rare moment in what’s now considered hip-hop history.

As the SVA DEI director, Dr. Jarvis Watson, frames it, “It was like six degrees of separation, connectivity and connection; a mass congregation of Black excellence.” 

The concept for an SVA poster celebrating hip-hop’s anniversary was a collaborative effort. Dr. Watson—along with other members of SVA’s community, including Executive Director of Human Resources Vennette Jones—led an informal committee deliberating about how to honor the then-upcoming anniversary at SVA. Around the same time, Ibañez had been talking to MFA Photography and Related Media Chair Charles H. Traub for guidance on his massive collection of photos from the Whodini music video shoot. Traub mentioned the project to SVA Executive Vice President Anthony Rhodes, creative director of the subway posters, who then took the idea to BFA Advertising and BFA Design Chair and Visual Arts Press Creative Director Gail Anderson (BFA 1984 Media Arts).

We recently spoke with Ibañez about his poster and the photo book he is working on, featuring the Whodini photos as well as other community-focused photos he has shot over the years.

Tell me the story behind the photo used in the new SVA poster.

My good friend told me about a huge music video shoot at the time and said, “Grab your camera and come get some shots.” I was one of the photographers at this video shoot, which was shot over the course of five days. Some great images came of it, including this one of Whodini leaning enthusiastically into the audience, and that’s featured on the subway poster. [Whodini’s founding member and lead MC Jalil Hutchins] seemed like a nice kid and played with a talented group. The entire video was energetic, a 1980s hip-hop street-fashion explosion, a real good time.

What does the 50th anniversary of hip-hop mean to you?

My family comes from Cuba, where the music is defined by “the prominence of Afro-Cuban themes and rhythms, blended with European-style harmonies.” Hip-hop draws parallels in that the rhythms have themes and the verbal rhymes have a certain cadence in their delivery. Drums are the definitive instruments in Cuban music and it makes you naturally want to dance. Hip-hop consists of stylized rhythmic music, usually built around drum beats that someone raps over and it’s made to dance, too.

Hip-hop is an artistic expression! Grab your big boom box to hang out on the stoop with your friends, dance on the sidewalks and breakdance on pieces of cardboard boxes in your neighborhood. The 50th anniversary of hip-hop celebrates another American art form that started from humble beginnings and now has a worldwide audience, global reach and influence. It’s a real human connection.

Tell me about your studies and time at SVA.

I graduated with a BFA Illustration degree from SVA and have worked in my department for the past 30 years. I love meeting and helping the students express their appreciation for art by honing their skill sets; it’s a rewarding job. 

Tell me about Cora Kennedy, who is mentioned in the poster, and what she meant to you.

She was my photography teacher at SVA, a great artist and a wonderful mentor. She was a tough and demanding teacher, but that helped me. She was a good one, so giving her a shout-out on the poster was very deserved.

I understand this photo comes from a book you are putting together of these photos and more of your work. What’s in it, and what do you hope people discover?

It’s a labor of love. I’m sharing some of my intimate photographs from that five-day shoot of Whodini’s “Funky Beat” music video, full of young hip-hop talent and R&B friends. It was a treasured moment in history that I was fortunate enough to document and my goal is to be able to share it with all who care to view it. 

While Ibañez’s poster can be seen in the New York subway system now and throughout the fall, the conversation around it and SVA’s recognition of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop will also continue. The event “A Snapshot in Hip-Hop featuring Angel Ibañez” is currently scheduled for Tuesday, October 2, at the SVA Theatre. Special invited guests will include moderator Sommer McCoy, chief curator of the Mixtape Museum; Paradise Grey, chief curator of the Universal Hip Hop Museum; and rapper Jalil Hutchins of Whodini. 

Also be on the lookout for more details on an “Art and Activism: Hip Hop and Activism” event, coming in November.